Smilla's Sense of Snow

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

This score was composed into a period where both Harry Gregson - Williams and Hans Zimmer collaborated a lot, and especially on action scores. The Rock and Broken Arrow are heavy favorites among the action public and the director wanted them both on Smilla's Sense of Snow, a movie that disappeared without much attention, and the same has happened with the score unfortunately. This score offers mostly Harry Gregson - Williams material, and Hans Zimmer's contribution was merely composing a cue or two, this for the sake of pleasing the director. Well, director pleased or not, we score fans want something more for our regular listen, and Smilla's Sense of Snow offers this in small format, concluding with one or two moments that maintain to stick in the memory, without noticing it. This score offers moody, subdued and low theme background music that doesn't differ greatly in enthusiasm except its thrilling pace. This is frankly the only thing that keeps the score going and except from some small synthesizer sounds there is nothing to remember.

The main problem is the score's long running time, offering everything in a nutshell and capable of doing this in 30 minutes, the score barely can hold your interest. The quiet theme that appears in 'Greenland: Anno 1859' and 'End Credits' is nothing spectacular and the better moments are the sudden bursts of more thrilling chase music, heard briefly in 'Chase at Sea' and 'The Truth Revealed'. While this score is not bad on its own, it offers nothing that sounds promising in the first place, and while Zimmer or Williams couldn't find the interest in the movie, they could have brought something a bit more lively. The last track is the best, with its more powerful score and mood. You have 54 minutes and yet, everything could have been summarized in 20 or roughly 30 minutes. And those main chase cues are nothing new, simply the basic formula that has been tried and tested in various scores, and more advanced in the first place. Smilla's Sense of Snow is low, moody, offering little of sheer interest and much of non repeating background music. It will sooth the film, no doubt about it, it will please the director by any means, it will attract some attention by several people, but for Gregson - Williams and Zimmer it is nothing more then another medium score on their long list of movie projects.

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. Greenland: Anno 1859 (4.14)

2. Isaiah's Theme (2.05)

3. Smilla Learns More (4.21)

4. Threatened With Jail (4.47)

5. Who Is The Mechanic? (4.26)

6. Secrets Of The Ship (7.10)

7. Chase At Sea (8.06)

8. Greenland Revisited (10.28)

9. The Truth Revealed (6.40)

10. End Titles (2.23)

Total Length: 54.50

The use of artwork or photos is posted for non profitable reasons

=== Link to Composer Sites: Harry Gregson - Williams & Hans Zimmer ===